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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. object — an aim
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. field — for sport
  4. field — a subject
  5. lean — to bend
  6. wax — to grow
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. field — farmland
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. bat — the animal
  14. object — to protest
  15. swing — music
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. swing — to play on
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. pound — a weight
  21. swing — in golf
  22. lean — thin
  23. bark — to shout
  24. object — a thing

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com